Undoubtedly, teleaudiology is one of THE buzzwords of our industry. Many researchers dedicate their time and resources to exploring this new way of addressing patients needs. One of these people is the world renowned South African professor in Audiology, Professor De Wet Swanepoel whom I was lucky enough to have had as my research supervisor during the completion of my research project for my Masters Degree. Prof De Wet Swanepoel recently presented in the UP expert lecture series on the following topic: Hearing loss – the rise of an invisible epidemic.

Teleaudiology is not only providing audiological services to those in remote areas, it is also using technology to make the process and journey with hearing rehabilitation an easy and smooth process. Imagine having your audiologist with the necessary expertise at your fingertips, while you are in another country, while you are on holiday, in a business meeting, relaxing in a lounge at the airport… imagine the possibilities!

We have been lucky enough to be one of the first practices in South Africa to start using this technology. I am extremely happy to say that this has made a tremendous difference in the way that we are able to deliver services and keep in touch with our patients. To me as audiologist I still feel that the relationship you have with your patients is one of the key aspects in the patient’s journey to better hearing – telecare supports just that. It keeps me close to my patients, it helps me to help them!

Telecare has taken our practice, our way of thinking and our service delivery to the next level.

Incidentally – probably because I love this technology so much Sivantos international has featured our practice on their blog. Read the blog here.

I was also invited to the Sivantos Academy held in Budapest, Hungary to share my experiences with telecare.

After this event – the local Sivantos Launch of the Pure BT 13 was held at the Capital Moloko Hotel where I was awarded with a prize for being one of the top 20 Telecare users in the world. What an amazing privilege – thank you Sivantos!!

I truly believe that this technology will change the future of audiology and improve the level of service delivery that we are able to give our patients significantly. The key features that I most enjoy in this product are as follows:

The patient’s ability to communicate with you without phoning or coming into your office – it saves time for the patient and clinician.

The ability of the audiologist to adjust and fine tune the patient’s hearing aid remotely – from anywhere in the world!

The audiologists ability to see the patients user intervals and sound environments through data logging information – this provides tremendous insight in the patient’s needs and assists the clinician to better adjust hearing aids for your individual needs!

Explanatory video’s for hearing aid maintenance are available at your fingertips on the app!

Patients can rate different listening situations and the clinician keep track of this in real time – The audiologist can contact a patient through a care-chat on the application to make sure that the patient is OK or need any assistance. This ratings of different listening situations provides the audiologist with extremely valuable information regarding the progress made and can use this information during follow up sessions to ensure exact fine tuning and increased patient satisfaction.